NEWS DESK
Dredge threat to Heads if port lease goes ahead Mike Hast mike@mpnews.com.au PORT Phillip Heads will have to be widened and deepened with a massive project that will make the controversial 2008-09 dredging pale into insignificance if the state government goes ahead with a 70-year lease of the Port of Melbourne, says peninsula MP Martin Dixon. Mr Dixon was speaking in the Parliament last week as the controversy over the government’s port bill reached fever pitch with the Opposition and Greens vowing to block the bill in the Upper House. The Port of Melbourne Lease Transaction Bill 2015 passed the Lower House last Thursday but the government does not have the numbers in the Upper House, and Treasurer Tim Pallas has threatened to bypass the Parliament. The government needs the port lease money – as much as $7 billion – to pay for removal of 50 level crossings as well as “building Melbourne Metro, the West Gate Distributor and other important transport initiatives”, a government spokesman said. The Opposition says the bill would “lead to a monopoly on the port’s ownership until 2090” and stop building of a new port at Hastings or on the western shore of Port Phillip between Werribee and Geelong as the government would have to pay compensation if a second container port was developed during the term of the lease. But figures accepted by both Labor and the Coalition when a second port
Flashback: It’s 2008 and the Dutch dredger the Queen of the Netherlands works in The Heads to remove rock to allow ships of 14 metres draft to enter Port Phillip. Picture: Yanni
was proposed show the Port of Melbourne will be at capacity in about 15 years and a second container port would complement rather than compete with Melbourne’s existing port. The company that leases the Port of Melbourne could very well tender to build and operate the second port. Mr Dixon, who alone among Liberal MPs in the lead-up to the 2006 state election opposed the 2008-09 dredging, said the state government would ensure “the destruction of Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park” if the port lease went ahead.
“The Port of Melbourne is unable to accept the current fleet of container ships with 16-metre drafts unless The Heads are widened and deepened with a massive dredging project that will make the controversial 2008-09 dredging pale into insignificance,” he said. “Former Port of Melbourne CEO Stephen Bradford conservatively estimated such blasting and dredging works would increase the high tide level in Port Phillip by 150mm [6 inches] – clearly enough to decimate our peninsula coastline. “Jobs and long-term business invest-
ment on the peninsula have all but dried up under Labor as they have gutted the Port of Hastings Development Authority before even establishing their much-touted Infrastructure Victoria advisory panel. “I encourage residents and visitors to pick up copies of a petition I am circulating that demands this crazy proposal is stopped and this irresponsible environmental and economic damage to the Mornington Peninsula is prevented.” Mr Dixon said predicted larger container ships would need 16 metres of
depth not the existing 14 metres at The Heads, and about 25 million cubic metres would have to be removed from the entrance as well as 75 million cubic metres from shipping channels. He said a total of 25 million cubic metres was removed from all parts of Port Phillip in 2008-09. Rejecting expansion of the Port of Hastings would cost 15,000 jobs over the next decade. “I have the fourthpoorest electorate in the state; my electorate has the fourth-lowest income in the state. The people in my community need jobs; they need careers.” The Opposition’s David Hodgett, the ports minister in the Napthine government, said “Daniel Andrews and Tim Richardson are failing to stand up for the local community and rule out any blasting of The Heads and dredging of Port Phillip. Andrews has botched the contract for the lease of the Port of Melbourne and that would lock in dire environmental consequences around Port Phillip”. Mr Pallas reportedly said leasing the port “means we can pay for the removal of our 50 worst level crossings, create thousands of jobs, get Victorians home safer and sooner, and still protect our AAA credit rating.”
MP claims Labor plans ‘toxic dump’ at Hastings Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au HASTINGS MP Neale Burgess is predicting a dark future for Hastings because of the state government’s decision to increasingly use Western Port as a “bulk” port. The scaled-down Port of Hastings Development Authority has swung its focus from preparing for a container port to promoting its use for bulk products, such as LNG (liquefied natural gas), petroleum products and brown coal. Hastings is already used to import and export petroleum and gas products and Mr Burgess accuses the government of having “secret plans” that will lead to Western Port being “a toxic dumping ground”, damaging lifestyles and cutting property values Ports Minister Luke Donnellan last
month said he expects the PoHDA “to chase opportunities in bulk to continue to grow the port down there”. “There are enormous opportunities, obviously, in relation to storage of petroleum, because we are importing so much petroleum now,” Mr Donnellan told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on 22 May. “I would also like to see [the PoHDA] look at chasing down business in the energy sector, because the Latrobe Valley has enormous brown coal deposits, gas and so forth. “I would really like to see the port of Hastings grow very quickly, because potentially that is the appropriate port to bring things in and out of. That is really where we are up to with the port of Hastings.” Mr Donnellan said there was no need to rush into making a decision on
where to a new container port as “we probably would not need a second port until about 2045, maybe beyond”. He said Infrastructure Victoria – to be established next year – would investigate if Bay West, in Port Phillip, or Hastings was the best site for a second port “The west has enormous advantages in relation to regional rail and major highways, whereas Hastings has enormous advantage in relation to a deep sea port. But the problem with Hastings is it does not have the road and the rail links,” he said. “I do not think either particular option is easy. I think we really need a thorough and rigorous analysis by Infrastructure Victoria — by economists, transport planners and the like — to actually get it right. “I think we need to, as much as we
can, put it into an independent entity to do it, not to put it into the hands of politicians.” With Hasting effectively out of the picture for a container port for at least a further 30 years, Mr Burgess has accused the state government of having “secret plans” for Hastings. “Mr Donnellan stated that Labor will use the Port of Hastings for shipping brown coal,” Mr Burgess has told The News. He says the brown coal will be piped as slurry to a “drying plant” at Hastings. Mr Burgess said the coal industry had unsuccessfully “pushed and pushed” for the previous Liberal/National government to back the project. “We said no, but I don’t think people understand what bulk means,” he said. “There was no mention of Labor’s
plan to use Western Port as a toxic dumping ground during the election. “The Brumby government planned to turn Hastings into a bulk port for coal, bitumen and urea and, when it lost government, it had already given Boral the go ahead to build a bitumen plant on the foreshore at Crib Point.” Mr Burgess said the bitumen plant “was only stopped when the Coalition was elected in November 2010”. The decision to not go ahead with a container port at Hastings meant “many thousands of jobs” had been lost to the area. “If Labor succeeds in turning Western Port into its toxic dumping ground, our local amenity and life style will be permanently damaged, property values will be slashed, businesses will be ruined and tourists will turn away from our part of the peninsula in their droves.”
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VALID 6/7/2015 1/6/2015
VALID 7/7/2015 or VALID 8/7/2015 Southern Peninsula News 30 June 2015
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